Technologies leading to miniaturization of complex electronic components combined with innovations in the areas of wireless communications and software have resulted in a highly mobile society. In this mobile society, the ways by which we work, socialize, and engage in commerce have shifted significantly and the lines that traditionally divided these activities have blurred. For example, devices such as the cellular phone, Blackberry™, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and laptop computer have closed geographical barriers to enable users to learn, work, socialize, shop, and play from virtually any location and at any time. Moreover, such devices are increasingly being integrated, enabling even greater utility and portability to conduct such activities.
Companies are seeking to profit from this mobility shift at an increasing rate. In its infancy, insightful companies utilized the Internet to provide consumers with the electronic equivalence to the brochure. Soon thereafter, the Internet was used to not only showcase a company's goods and/or services, but to provide ways for the consumer to conveniently purchase products and services without leaving the home or office. Accordingly, a consumer with a personal computer and access to an Internet connection could shop and purchase items online from merchants all over the world. As geographical constraints are lifted by advancing computing and wireless technologies, merchants are again faced with determining how to benefit from this rapid technological evolution.
The benefit of the integration of computing, telephone, and Internet technologies into single wireless or handheld devices has not been fully realized. For example, while it is now possible to access the World Wide Web by way of a cell phone, most users have found it difficult or undesirable to navigate and interact with web pages by way of the very small LCD screens and limited functional controls provided by the cell phone. As such, most consumers still rely significantly on standard personal computers while utilizing smaller devices as portable extensions to larger computing devices. Text messaging, for example, enables mobile users to stay connected to others in a manner that was previously only available through instant messaging tools at a personal computer (e.g., AOL Instant Messenger™, Google Talk™, ICQ™, Jabber™, and Yahoo! Messenger™).
In order to capitalize on the growing market of mobile consumers, there is a need to enable these consumers to conveniently participate in commerce transactions without requiring them to be at a personal computer. Moreover, there is a need to provide consumers with the benefit of participating in special sale promotions using only their text message equipped wireless device. Such a system would provide a benefit to consumers, promotion sponsors, and merchants in that it opens an additional medium for facilitating commerce outside cumbersome computing devices traditionally used to facilitate online purchases.